About a year ago at my cousin's wedding, my aunt Mary Jo was telling me about a trip she and Sam were taking to India. I was invited to go along and I said (wait for it) yes.
Yay! I'm going to India! Except hold up, it's not that easy. There was a lot to do between being invited to boarding the plane. Most of it was done last minute.
First of all, this trip is through GEEO tours and they do travel programs for teachers. Obviously I'm not a teacher but Mary Jo is so good enough. The trip is about 3 weeks long and we go to Delhi and Kathmandu and Nepal. It's gonna be a grand ol time. To go with GEEO, it cost me about $2,000 which was my first expense and I paid it last September (or maybe it was August).
So then some stuff happened in my life (I quit my job, broke up with my boyfriend, dyed my hair dark, moved to Montana) and then some more stuff happened (I went to Georgia, I got a new job, then I quit that job) so I have been keeping busy and having fun. Meanwhile, I haven't been doing much in terms of getting ready for this trip.
For my birthday my mom bought me a plane ticket to Tallahassee. That way I can meet up with the fam and fly abroad with them instead of by myself like I had been planning to do. Aren't mothers great?! So that saved me some money. Then Mary Jo bought our plane tickets to India and I wrote her a check for (I think? It's been months I don't remember) $890. Mary Jo also found us places to stay in London and Nepal but I haven't figured out the expenses for those yet.
Then there was the drama with my immunization records. Basically I went to the hospital to find out what vaccines/meds I needed for India, the hospital was like "herp derp, we don't know, go to the Health Center" so I went to the Health Center. There I found out my immunization records are screwed up and doctors don't just let that slide. So I had to get a shot for Hep A (WHICH I've already had, but the records had the incorrect dosage so I had to get another so they could write that I have had one with the right dosage). And then my Health Center doc gave me some typhoid pills and sent me on my way after I paid like a $100 bill for all that shit. I took the typhoid pills after they were prescribed, so back in April. They made me super nauseous. Oh and the hospital that sent me to the Health Center? They billed me $130 for the bullshit consultation.
There are meds for malaria as well, but I'm not taking those. They're 50% effective and have terrible side effects (one makes you have intense, vivid dreams, another makes you super sensitive to sunlight. Both you have to take every day during your trip, then every day for a couple weeks after you return home). I'm already pale and dream every night so I'm gonna risk it and punch any mosquito that looks at me funny.
Ok! Now let's talk about visas. For both India and Nepal I need a visa in addition to my passport. For Nepal I get that at the border. I need 2 passport style photos so I got those at a CVS like 3 days ago and it cost me $14 and my picture looks effing horrible. For India, I applied online. It was a tedious process and a little complicated at parts. The very last step was to upload a PGF of my passport bio page, but my file size was too big so Ian had to redo it and then once that was done nothing saved on my online application so I gave up and came back a week later to try again. It cost $75 and I was accepted for a visa to India.
I had dad print out my important documents last Thursday. And I think that's it. Now we're all caught up.
Which brings us to Friday the day before my flight. I did some light packing and brought a skirt, a dress, about 4 shirts, socks and undies for 4 days, and a pair of walking shoes. I'm packing light light light. So light in fact I forgot to bring a sleeping bag liner and my sunglasses but I did made some snacks for the flights. Ian gave me a ride to dad's house. I'm spending the night at dads because he is awesome and giving me a ride to the airport at 4am the next day.
So I hung out at dads. He, Shawna, and I watched Netflix while I did some typing. I went to bed around 11 and woke up at 3:30am to get ready to leave. Gross!
Dad took me to the airport, it's about a 10 minute drive from the house. He gave me advice like "don't be trusting no one" and "stay with yo group". It's almost like he doesn't want me to have any fun. We chilled at the airport for a little bit then I said adios and went through security!
After a bit of sitting around, everyone boarded. I sat next to a kid going to Cuba with his Spanish class. Then I fell asleep. It was freezing on the plane.
We landed in Minneapolis around 8 but with the time zone it was 9. My flight to Atlanta didn't board until 2 so I had a lot of time to kill. It was pretty boring. I sat next to a window and watched traffic. Then I got on the tram to the next concourse but got off at the first stop and walked from concourse C to concourse G.
It got busy when it was time to board. I was in zone 1 but everyone was crowding around and I couldn't board with my zone. So I bumped some shins with my pink suitcase and magically people moved out of my way.
The flight to Atlanta was boring. I watched this movie Split by M. Night Shyamalan.
It's a thriller movie and helped wake me up but I didn't really understand the ending. Bruce Willis made a cameo. It was a solid 5/10 on the scale of fun.
We landed in Atlanta at 6:30 after jumping ahead an hour. I went straight to Chik Fil A and got myself a sandwich, fries, and a bottle of water for $7.50.
I watched Youtube videos until it was time to board at 9:50. The flight was good! I got to see Atlanta at night and there was a full moon.
Too bad the full moon wasn't the next day, I could have had a full moon going into London. Then I could have ended a blog post with the Werewolves of London song and when will ever get a chance to use that song in a blog post again?
I landed in Tallahassee at 11:30 and met up with Sam and his girlfriend Katie. The drive to MJ's was short. Their house is cool. MJ and I got a quick hug in before calling it a night and going to bed. After a full day of traveling, I have vertigo and am feeling dizzy.
I went to bed at 12:30
Yay! I'm going to India! Except hold up, it's not that easy. There was a lot to do between being invited to boarding the plane. Most of it was done last minute.
First of all, this trip is through GEEO tours and they do travel programs for teachers. Obviously I'm not a teacher but Mary Jo is so good enough. The trip is about 3 weeks long and we go to Delhi and Kathmandu and Nepal. It's gonna be a grand ol time. To go with GEEO, it cost me about $2,000 which was my first expense and I paid it last September (or maybe it was August).
Here's a map or whatever
So then some stuff happened in my life (I quit my job, broke up with my boyfriend, dyed my hair dark, moved to Montana) and then some more stuff happened (I went to Georgia, I got a new job, then I quit that job) so I have been keeping busy and having fun. Meanwhile, I haven't been doing much in terms of getting ready for this trip.
For my birthday my mom bought me a plane ticket to Tallahassee. That way I can meet up with the fam and fly abroad with them instead of by myself like I had been planning to do. Aren't mothers great?! So that saved me some money. Then Mary Jo bought our plane tickets to India and I wrote her a check for (I think? It's been months I don't remember) $890. Mary Jo also found us places to stay in London and Nepal but I haven't figured out the expenses for those yet.
Then there was the drama with my immunization records. Basically I went to the hospital to find out what vaccines/meds I needed for India, the hospital was like "herp derp, we don't know, go to the Health Center" so I went to the Health Center. There I found out my immunization records are screwed up and doctors don't just let that slide. So I had to get a shot for Hep A (WHICH I've already had, but the records had the incorrect dosage so I had to get another so they could write that I have had one with the right dosage). And then my Health Center doc gave me some typhoid pills and sent me on my way after I paid like a $100 bill for all that shit. I took the typhoid pills after they were prescribed, so back in April. They made me super nauseous. Oh and the hospital that sent me to the Health Center? They billed me $130 for the bullshit consultation.
There are meds for malaria as well, but I'm not taking those. They're 50% effective and have terrible side effects (one makes you have intense, vivid dreams, another makes you super sensitive to sunlight. Both you have to take every day during your trip, then every day for a couple weeks after you return home). I'm already pale and dream every night so I'm gonna risk it and punch any mosquito that looks at me funny.
Ok! Now let's talk about visas. For both India and Nepal I need a visa in addition to my passport. For Nepal I get that at the border. I need 2 passport style photos so I got those at a CVS like 3 days ago and it cost me $14 and my picture looks effing horrible. For India, I applied online. It was a tedious process and a little complicated at parts. The very last step was to upload a PGF of my passport bio page, but my file size was too big so Ian had to redo it and then once that was done nothing saved on my online application so I gave up and came back a week later to try again. It cost $75 and I was accepted for a visa to India.
I had dad print out my important documents last Thursday. And I think that's it. Now we're all caught up.
Which brings us to Friday the day before my flight. I did some light packing and brought a skirt, a dress, about 4 shirts, socks and undies for 4 days, and a pair of walking shoes. I'm packing light light light. So light in fact I forgot to bring a sleeping bag liner and my sunglasses but I did made some snacks for the flights. Ian gave me a ride to dad's house. I'm spending the night at dads because he is awesome and giving me a ride to the airport at 4am the next day.
So I hung out at dads. He, Shawna, and I watched Netflix while I did some typing. I went to bed around 11 and woke up at 3:30am to get ready to leave. Gross!
Dad took me to the airport, it's about a 10 minute drive from the house. He gave me advice like "don't be trusting no one" and "stay with yo group". It's almost like he doesn't want me to have any fun. We chilled at the airport for a little bit then I said adios and went through security!
After a bit of sitting around, everyone boarded. I sat next to a kid going to Cuba with his Spanish class. Then I fell asleep. It was freezing on the plane.
Bye Montana. Why does my window open upside down
We landed in Minneapolis around 8 but with the time zone it was 9. My flight to Atlanta didn't board until 2 so I had a lot of time to kill. It was pretty boring. I sat next to a window and watched traffic. Then I got on the tram to the next concourse but got off at the first stop and walked from concourse C to concourse G.
It got busy when it was time to board. I was in zone 1 but everyone was crowding around and I couldn't board with my zone. So I bumped some shins with my pink suitcase and magically people moved out of my way.
The flight to Atlanta was boring. I watched this movie Split by M. Night Shyamalan.
He was dead the whole time
It's a thriller movie and helped wake me up but I didn't really understand the ending. Bruce Willis made a cameo. It was a solid 5/10 on the scale of fun.
We landed in Atlanta at 6:30 after jumping ahead an hour. I went straight to Chik Fil A and got myself a sandwich, fries, and a bottle of water for $7.50.
Thank Jesus I didn't fly in on a Sunday
I watched Youtube videos until it was time to board at 9:50. The flight was good! I got to see Atlanta at night and there was a full moon.
Too bad the full moon wasn't the next day, I could have had a full moon going into London. Then I could have ended a blog post with the Werewolves of London song and when will ever get a chance to use that song in a blog post again?
I landed in Tallahassee at 11:30 and met up with Sam and his girlfriend Katie. The drive to MJ's was short. Their house is cool. MJ and I got a quick hug in before calling it a night and going to bed. After a full day of traveling, I have vertigo and am feeling dizzy.
I went to bed at 12:30
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